green energy uk launches new 100% renewable and 100% green tariffs

08 May 2008

green energy uk launches two new tariffs

green energy uk launches new 100% renewable and 100% green tariffs and offers customers shares in the business

green energy uk, supplier of 100% renewable and 100% green electricity, today announces the launch of its new Deep Green and Pale Green tariffs. To celebrate the launch, green energy uk, which has been operating since 2001, is also giving customers who sign up 400 shares each in the company.

green energy uk's Deep Green tariff offers customers 100% renewable electricity created from solar, hydro and wind-powered projects, and has zero carbon emissions and no radioactive waste. Customers opting for Pale Green receive a cocktail of 100% green electricity predominantly from cleaner Combined Heat and Power (green CHP) sources. Pale Green has no radioactive waste and its carbon emissions are 160g per kwh, which is around 65% less than the national average for energy production.

Doug Stewart, green energy uk Chief Executive and co-founder, says: 'It's not just a part of our business that supports the green economy, it's all of it. We don't buy from coal or gas fired power stations and we don't just buy up to the Government or EU obligations; we buy to our own stringent standards – and that's 100% green. All customers of green energy uk contribute to reducing the impact of their electricity use on the environment. With Deep Green and Pale Green, we are giving customers greater choice and making green electricity more accessible.'

As shareholders, customers can attend the AGM and put questions to the green energy uk board. Doug Stewart explains: 'Many people equate a green lifestyle as having to make sacrifices, but offering customers shares is our twist on that concept. The shares are a reward to our customers for making the choice to be green. We are a transparent company and we value our customers’ input. They understand the importance of their decision to choose green electricity, so it makes sense to involve them in the business.'

Imagine how green electricity is made and almost immediately a wind turbine springs to mind. However, it is not just about wind. There are now more green electricity generators than ever operating in the UK, and some of the methods used are a combination of modern science and thinking that dates back to the 19th century. green energy uk supplies renewable electricity from solar, hydro and wind powered projects, but it is with cleaner Combined Heat and Power (green CHP) and Biomass from Waste projects where some of the more interesting and unusual sources lie.

For example, pig waste on its own makes good manure, but it has a negative environmental impact because it releases methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In Scotland, a green energy uk, generator partner treats pig waste through an anaerobic digester where, inside, microorganisms eat through the waste and produce a green biogas. The biogas is then burnt to power a turbine that generates 100% renewable electricity. This method is fully sustainable and the resulting electricity is sold by green energy uk to homes and businesses. This process also leaves behind a better fertiliser in the anaerobic digester that has no greenhouse gasses to emit. Other Biomass from Waste sources used to generate green energy uk's electricity include waste vegetable matter, waste from demolition sites and waste vegetable oil.

green energy uk's green CHP partner projects see electricity being made at various tomato and pepper farms across the UK. Installing CHP units farmers who heat their greenhouses can now produce electricity. CO2 made from burning gas to heat the greenhouses is fed to the plants and not released into the atmosphere. The heat turns a turbine inside the CHP unit and makes the electricity. From one source heat, food for the plants and electricity is created. Being able to heat the greenhouses means that peppers for example canbe grown in the UK, thus reducing the demand for them to be imported, further reducing our impact on the environment.

Green CHP and Biomass from Waste are about making the most out of resources and extending their potential. Doug explains: 'We look at materials to see how we can give them dual use and make them more efficient to our needs and demands. Ordinarily, much of what we use to make electricity would go to landfill where it would rot and give off greenhouse gasses, but using these unwanted materials to make our electricity is a more thorough recycling of waste. It is incredible to think of people sitting at home or in their office with everything electrical around them being powered by unwanted stuff from demolition sites, or waste vegetable oil or pig waste! We are able to put all this into the green supply chain, which means less fossil fuel is required.'

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Notes to editors:

green energy uk is the first and only energy company in the UK to offer customers the choice of 100% renewable or 100% green electricity.

green energy uk is a young, British owned, Hertfordshire-based company which has grown substantially since it was established in 2001.

green energy uk has a broad spectrum of customers, from homes using only £200 p.a. to Lords, Knights and MPs, to charities and churches, high profile individuals with an environmental interest like Bamber Gascoigne and Wayne Hemmingway, and businesses with strong environmental policies such as Waitrose, The Duchy of Cornwall and Paradise Wildlife Park.

green energy uk does not buy or sell any brown energy.

green energy uk does not buy or sell any energy created from Biomass from Food Crops.

green energy uk agree with Ofgem’s view* that there is not necessarily a link between retiring ROC’s and new investment. However green energy uk have in the past and intend to do so again this year, retired ROCs in excess of their obligation.

green energy uk has a very unusual and radical business model: it is giving away half of the business in shares. The first 100,000 customers are getting 400 shares each.

green energy uk facilitates investment in a wide range of technologies to produce renewable and green electricity. 90% of the electricity green energy uk supplies comes from generators only commissioned since green energy uk started in 2001.